Masso:OriginalGamer: Apple removes YouTube and Google Maps from iOS6. Both get released as stand alone apps improved over their former stock selves. Other than the 3 months of using Apple Maps (or just using Maps.Google.com) I'm not seeing the downside.

They both are really much better than they were, Google hadn't done jack to update either one in years when they were stock.

Except Google literally wouldn't let them. Google's Map license didnt allow for Vector maps, or turn by turn voice navigation. Google refused to budge on that point. So Apple didnt really have much choice other than to remove it and make their own. It was either that or be stuck with a feature poor Map app.

In the end, it has worked better for us, as we know have a properly updated Google Maps app as opposed to something that hadn't changed in years and never would.

Corvus:Mr.Tangent: How nice of them to offer a choice. Choices...what will those wizards of Cupertino come up with next.

There are thousands of navigation and map apps in the iPhone store. I belie e many more than android phones have. Apple never stopped Google from submitting their map app, Google did.

Seriously, I can't believe the misconceptions people have about the whole issue.

1) Google was not responsible for the original Maps or Youtube App. Apple made a deal with Google so that Google provides access to Youtube and Maps and the features that came along with both (for instance, Street View). Google gave Apple the API access so they can write those apps. The original Maps and Youtube app codebases were made and maintained by Apple alone. Apple was the one who didn't make any changes to either between iOS 1 and iOS 5.

2) The delay for releasing a Google Maps app was because Google didn't anticipate that there would have to be a Google Maps app because their deal with Apple was supposed to last until the end of 2013. Apple ended the deal one year early. Because Apple was the one who wrote and maintained the original Maps and Youtube Apps, Google had to scramble to write a replacement Maps and Youtube App from the ground up (and then go through quality control and testing). That is why there was a delay in getting the Google Maps app into the App Store.

Am I the only one who bothered to follow this story? It was kind of a big deal in the tech industry for several months.

Out of all of us, we maybe use 'Maps' (either in it's current or previous form) for something other than looking at the roof of someones house...3 times a year?

Well i use maps mostly as just that: a map. Then i figure out how to get to where i want to go myself. But there are people too stupid to realise (and read the warning) that traffic signs and rules are still to be followed. If those people buy an iphone, which is advertised as being perfect, and use it for routing, things get dangerous. Since stupid people will never die out it should be easier to fix some piece of software and it should be fixed faster. The only way to prevent this kind of outrage until routing is perfect would be an at least 3-step verification (code, accept something on screen, audible notification).

Subby, the lack of turn by turn navigation, public transit directions and street view is why Apple dropped the Maps app from iOS6. Google's app for Android did things they refused to put in the iOS maps. Now all maps apps are on an equal footing and Google needs to compete for the data they used to mine for free.

OriginalGamer:Apple removes YouTube and Google Maps from iOS6. Both get released as stand alone apps improved over their former stock selves. Other than the 3 months of using Apple Maps (or just using Maps.Google.com) I'm not seeing the downside.

There was a simpler solution: I didn't update to iO6 until the Google Map app was available.

Drag and drop is awesome for a few songs. When your dealing with tons of albums iTunes actually does do a great job of organizing.

Not a problem if you already have your music properly organized in folders.

I just don't like iTunes "magical" way of working. Plus I like to hear what I like at the moment I want. Not some "magical" DJ feature that picks the songs I like the least out of my folders :P

Except I have 20,484 songs and audio books, with associated Play Counts, Album Art, Star Ratings, and Last Positions that I already sync with an iPod Classic and an iPod Nano. Drag and drop simply cannot keep up with this. I like being able to rate a new song 5 stars on my PC and have it automatically populate to the "Top Rated" playlists on both iPods, I like being able to stop halfway through a 1 hour audiobook chapter on my home audio system and have it resume exactly where I stopped on my iPod in my car automatically. I like being able to have a "recently added" smart playlist that automatically pulls the most recent tracks from my podcasts, then removes them after I listen to them on each different platform without me having to go through and delete them by hand. Drag and drop simply cannot accomplish any of this. iTunes can. And I would like to add my Android phone to this as well.

And I also like to hear what I want at the moment. And letting my browse by looking through Genre>Artist>Album>Song is the easiest way for me to do this. ITunes is the only app that really does this well. Ever other music application that uses metadata only using three levels of nested organization. Browse by Genre and it lists all the Albums in that Genre. That may be fine if you have a few hundred songs over a few dozen Albums. But I currently have 10056 Albums. Without the 4 levels of nesting, actually searching for something is next to impossible. And iTunes is the only music managing application I know of that lets me do this.

rocky_howard:taurusowner: I really wish there was an iTunes app for Android. Every music player on Android sucks and there aren't any good music management or syncing applications for PCs that work like iTunes but for Android.

WHY?!?!?!?!

iTunes sucks hairy donkey balls. Why would you forgo the awesome choice of drag and dropping your music into the phone for iTunes of all things?

It's like saying "y'know what? I'd love to have cancer so I can get chemo and thus get a hairless head". Why? Just shave it!

There are those of us that like a managed interface that can quickly allow for playlists to be made and stuff to be sorted by various metadata, or even just sync a setup that's already on the computer. I really don't care about managing the file structure of hundreds or thousands of music files.

Apple removes YouTube and Google Maps from iOS6. Both get released as stand alone apps improved over their former stock selves. Other than the 3 months of using Apple Maps (or just using Maps.Google.com) I'm not seeing the downside.

They both are really much better than they were, Google hadn't done jack to update either one in years when they were stock.